Rescue
by Chaos Eternus
Summary: An unusual rescue for a surface party from Galactica.
1. Chapter 1

**Rescue  
by chaoseternus **

"Frak!" Kara shouted, her shoulder aching, letting her know none too subtly that she had fired too many rounds from her rifle for its liking and that once again the maverick pilot was going to have one hell of a bruise come tomorrow.

Assuming she lived that long, that is.

She turned sharply, gun raised, as a figure dropped into the small depression next to her. Equally quickly she turned back to the fight, gun belching lead as she recognised the figure of her long time friend Apollo, "we're getting frakked over here,"

"I know," he replied, hands racing as he swiftly, effortlessly replaced his guns clip, "there's another 14 toasters moving up our left flank, they'll be here long before the _Raptors _are,"

Pausing in her firing just quickly enough to replace her own clip, Kara grimaced, muttering 'frak', before raising her weapon once more, gazing through the trees just waiting for the next wave to move out of cover.

Weary, they glanced at each other as the heavy metallic clomping of the cylons sounded once more, there ears catching the metallic sound of weapons being readied once more around them as the more band of warriors prepared themselves for more combat.

The harsh, staccato sound of weapons fire sounded in the still of the forest as the walking machines stepped once more out of the cover of the trees, gun arms raised and working. Behind her, Kara heard a muffled female moan, followed by the unmistakable sound of a body hitting the ground, no longer under its former owners control.

A cylon went down under the weight of fire she directed at it, but Kara didn't pause, her gun moving automatically and far too practised towards the next target, her ears ringing with the sound of the munitions.

Disgustedly, she watched as a skinjob stepped out of cover behind the approaching metal monsters, but tempted as she was, she didn't shift her fire, the fake wasn't the threat here.

Her eyes caught movement again as her latest target went down and Kara felt her eyes widen as the female fell, what looked to be an arrow protruding from the back of her skull.

"Apollo, one of the skinsjobs just got killed."

"Good," he replied, his tone indicating satisfaction, but also a little curiosity, unsure as to way Kara was telling him this in the middle of a pitched fight.

"From behind," Kara shook her head as she caught Apollos startled glance out of the corner of her eye, but she continued, her tone clearly shouting its disbelief, "with an _arrow. _"

Apollo turned his gaze towards her nodded direction in time to see an arm drop from the green foliage of the trees above, grab a toaster and single-handedly raise it into the cover.

Several loud bangs followed, and then piece by piece the remains of the warrior were dropped back on the ground below. There were many pieces, but whilst Kara kept an eye on the unfolding and quite pleasant destruction of the warrior it was only the rearmost of the formation, there were still far more up close and personal threats to deal with.

Grimacing as her gun ran empty once more, Kara glanced towards the tree where the warrior had met its unexpected death in time to see a tall, blonde male drop out of the tree making not a sound despite the heavy weight of all the obvious muscles. They weren't the muscles of the dedicated body builder or muscleman either, they were the muscles of someone who did heavy work the _old _fashioned way without even the most basic aids of modern society.

She would be lying if the tanned bronze, the muscled looks, the leather clothing that appeared to be more for modesty's sake more then actual warmth didn't stir her libido for just a moment, but the sound of gunfire stopped that and with one eye on the stranger just in case he should turn into a threat, she turned her gun to the fight.

A sudden shadow made her duck, then she glanced behind as a loud crashing sounded; her jaw dropping as the cylon she hadn't been aware was sneaking up behind her fell to the ground….

Under the weight of a _second _mechanical cylon which had apparently been _thrown _right over her head and across a cool 100 yards of forest, missing all the trees bushes etc to land a perfect strike on a cylon that would have had her cold.

Kara was impressed, she was also shocked, mildly awed and slightly frightened, a feeling she didn't like.

She glanced back to the unknown in time to see him pick up two cylons, one in each hand, and bang their heads together, the sound echoing through the clearing as the two battered and apparently no longer functional machines were dropped to the ground.

"Did he just…?" Apollo asked next to her, startled.

"Yes," Kara replied, her gun now very firmly pointed towards the unknown as he was joined by a second, shorter figure with an actual bow in his arms and quiver on his back. She shook her head slightly, the only time she had seen such a weapon before was survival training, except for weirdo's, who actually used one for real?

For that matter, used one often enough to be able to put an arrow right into a cylons head and damn near have the arrow go straight through?

All of three minutes later, the fight was over, the stranger having thumped, thrown and plain battered the warriors into submission whilst his companion did a fine line in distractions, trips, falls, and casual slicing of hydraulic lines.

The result was the two walking warily towards far warier and certainly more trigger happy Colonial Warriors, hands in the open and weapons stowed. Not that Kara was buying it for an instant, she had seen them in action after all and she had certainly got the hint with these two, the taller especially, that weapons were optional.

"Hi, I'm Hercules, this is Ioleus. Family asked me to come, said you guys could really use my help…"

"Right," Kara snorted, "and who's your family?"

"Ah, right…"

Kara raised an eyebrow speculatively as the two traded a look that said all too clearly that this was going to be tricky. For some strange reason though, Kara had the strangest feeling that her prayers had been answered…

* * *

Of course, I own nothing and claim nothing from the new Battlestar Galactica or Hercules: The Legendary Journeys 


	2. Chapter 2

**Rescue  
****by chaoseternus **

**Two**

"This could be awkward," 

Adama snorted, shooting Roslin a 'you think?' look that the President was forced to acknowledge with a wry twist of her lips. 

"Not just that we apparently have the illegitimate son of Zeus amongst us, not just that his very existence proves the Word of Kobol to be at best incomplete, at worst, outright lies but he's here. We can touch him and speak directly to him and…" 

Adama nodded, "people like their Gods at a distance, to have the son of one directly in your face, inescapable will cause a crisis of faith amongst many." 

"We call ourselves enlightened," Roslin sighed, "but the proof of what we have always believed leaves us quite contrarily losing faith." 

"It does not help that his tales of his family do not paint all in the best of lights," 

"True," Roslin grimaced, "to find the perfect being you worship is a vindictive, selfish and uncaring…" 

Adama nodded, knowing that Roslin was referring to Hera and knowing that Hera wasn't quite the worst, according to Hercules and Iolaus at least. Of course, they only had there word as to their true origin and that in itself was a problem. 

Some believed, some denied… the result and instant religious split right down the fleet, destabilising the fleet in a way the Cylons had never quite managed, not for want of trying though. 

"This could destroy the fleet," Roslin pointed out. 

"Or save it." Adama responded, "All we can do is our best and hope we are up to the challenge, one way or another." 

"It's not going to be easy is it?" 

"Never is," 

* * *

"So Hercules here, he's pushing me into this cave right to face the…" Iolaus paused, "was that the Minotaur or a Griffin that first time?" 

Hercules smiled, "you're the one telling the story." 

Iolaus shot him a look, but turned back to his audience, "anyway, we go up to this Griffin , swords in hand, prepared to slay and suddenly there's flames everywhere. The Griffin breathes fire! 

We killed it in the end of course, but a few words never quite managed to make it into the bard's version of the tales…" 

"Wow, I didn't know it could do that!" Hercules and Iolaus said pretty much simultaneously. 

"Very comforting words in the middle of a fight let me tell you," Iolaus finished. 

Kara laughed, "I'll bet," 

"So, what do you do for fun around here?" Iolaus asked causally. 

"Kill cylons, play cards, kill cylons, get drunk, kill cylons…"

"Noticing a pattern there," Hercules commented, mildly pensive, "do you kill all the Cylons you come across?" 

The Colonials glanced as one at Caprica Boomer who nodded jerkily, "not all," 

"Just those that try to kill us," Kara replied. 

"Which unfortunately is most," Lee shook his head, "the fact that they resurrect just makes it worse." 

"Resurrect?" Hercules asked softly. 

"We download into new bodies if we are killed," Boomer shrugged, "most of the time anyway. The main problem is range but there are dedicated Resurrection ships that mean a taskforce can operate outside of normal range of the home world or any other major base." 

"Great," Iolaus grimaced, "means you not only have to worry about how to kill the cylons but also the where and when, just in case they remember where they died." 

"Trust me," Boomer grinned wryly, "that's not something you tend to forget." 

"No," Iolaus frowned, a dark expression lingering in his eyes for a moment, "it's not." 

"You've died?" Lee asked, exchanging a glance with Starbuck. 

"Four times now," 

"That must suck," Starbuck carefully responded, wondering if she was facing a Cylon though given the company Ioluas was keeping, willing to concede that wasn't the only answer as to his resurrections. 

"Beats being dead that fifth time and telling the story from the other side," Iolaus snorted, "besides, who else is going to keep the big lug here out of trouble?" 

Hercules choked, snorting water out of his nose, "out of trouble? Need I remind you of a certain Apple Aphrodite handed you, or perhaps…" 

Ioluas held his hands up, "no need to go there Herc." 

"Oh please, go there," Kara smirked, "sounded interesting."

"You do and I'll tell on you." 

Hercules grinned, "Well, Iolaus here got asked to decide which amongst three ladies was the most beautiful…." 

Snorts filled the room, sympathetic glances being directed at the vengefully glaring Iolaus, and Hercules grinned as he continued, "there was just one problem, the 'Ladies' were Aphrodite, Artemis and Athena…" 

Starbuck's jaw dropped and she wasn't the only one, but Iolaus wasn't one to lose, "well, exactly who gave Ares a right shook when he turned up to gloat after a certain fire breathing monster?" 

"Which one?" Hercules asked grinning. 

"Oh you should remember this one," Iolaus grinned, "Ares couldn't look you in the face for ages afterwards, not with your pants burnt scraps around your feet." 

Hercules flushed, "oh really? Well…" 

* * *

"They get along well," Ares grimaced, "but I really wish Iolaus had not reminded me of that… incident." 

Hespesteus shook a smirking Aprodite an amused grin, "well, it does explain what you were doing visiting all those village medicine men and healers…" 

Ares shot him a glare but Hespesteus shrugged it off and continued, "But who do you really support in this? I would have fought you would have been for the warlike and corrupt Cylons but you seemed to support asking Hercules to aid the Colonials?" 

Ares snorted, "An impossible mission, great odds, little hope of success, far superior enemy but real determination? _That _is what a real war is made of." 

"It would seem to encourage real bravery," Hespesteus admitted, turning back to the flowing waters of the viewing pool. 

"And real hate," Ares smirked, "real grudges." 

"With Hercules around?" Aphrodite commented. 

The smile dropped off Aries's face.

* * *

Of course, I own nothing and claim nothing from the new Battlestar Galactica or Hercules: The Legendary Journeys 


End file.
